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Almost the entire hockey world was convinced Jarome Iginla had been traded to the Boston Bruins.

In fact, for a few a moments on that weird, wild and wacky night in late March, the longtime face of the Calgary Flames wondered if he should starting packing his bags for Beantown.

Iginla was a healthy scratch for the Flames clash with the Colorado Avalanche at the Saddledome, told to stay home to await word of a trade away from the only franchise he’d ever known.

The Bruins were reported to have sealed a deal with the Flames. Unbeknownst to many, the Pittsburgh Penguins — Iginla’s top pick among his suitors — hadn’t given up hope.

“I was watching TSN, and I watching the game because I was home, and I got tons of texts — ‘Is the deal done to Boston?’ And I’m like, ‘No, it’s not,’ ”

Iginla recalled of the March 27

swap, which didn’t technically get done until March 28

in the Eastern time zone.

“I saw it being reported that, ya, it was done, and I honestly wasn’t sure what happened. I was texting (agent Don Meehan), ‘Are you sure it’s not done? Is there something I should know?’

“I wasn’t aware that you actually have to sign a paper and all that stuff when it’s done. I honestly thought, ‘Maybe it is done? I don’t know.’ But he assured me that it wasn’t, that Pittsburgh was still in the mix.”

That’s exactly what he wanted to hear.

You can’t question Iginla’s ability to pick a winner. Armed with a no-trade clause, he reportedly gave Flames GM Jay Feaster a list of four teams he’d be willing to join — the Penguins, the Bruins, the Chicago Blackhawks and the Los Angeles Kings.

Of course, that’s also the list of teams still in Stanley Cup contention this spring. As if the Eastern Conference final wasn’t already sexy enough, it’s a meeting of the two squads that went down to the wire for Iginla.

No offence to the Bruins, but the Penguins won the sweepstakes because that’s where the 35-year-old right-winger wanted to go.

The Bruins were so certain Iginla would be theirs, they scratched centre Alexander Khokhlachev and blueliner Matt Bartkowski from the lineup of their farm club in Providence that night, fuelling speculation those were the youngsters going to the Flames in a trade.

The next day, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli admitted “We believed we had a deal.” When Penguins GM Ray Shero told his own kids he’d acquired the future Hockey Hall-of-Famer in the wee hours of the night, they didn’t buy it.

They sure did, trading away their first-round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft and college-level prospects Kenny Agostino and Ben Hanowski, who has since made his big-league debut at the Saddledome.

Iginla is now eight wins away from getting his hands on the Stanley Cup, his main motivation for leaving Calgary.

Ironically, the Bruins are one of the squads standing in the way.

“I was fortunate that, when I submitted the group of teams, that Boston and the Penguins were serious about trying to acquire me,” Iginla said. “It wasn’t a matter of me saying ‘yes’ and then ‘no.’ It was just a matter of actually, between the two, wanting to come to the Penguins.”

Can you blame him?

We’re talking about a guy who spent 15 full seasons — and scored 525 times — with the Flames without ever having a star centre by his side.

In Pittsburgh, he’s on the second line.

His centre? Evgeni Malkin, who won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player last season.

His left-winger? James Neal, who finished fourth in the league goal-scoring derby in 2011-12.

Because centre Sidney Crosby headlines the Penguins’ top unit with Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz, the star-studded second trio doesn’t even see much of the shutdown pairing from the other side.

“They’re both great organizations and having success, but Pittsburgh was on a nine-game winning streak, and Malkin wasn’t even in the lineup,” Iginla said, recalling the details of his decision. “You look at it and look at that depth and having one of truly the best players in the world not in the lineup, it was hard not to want to go and join it.

“And then, when you get to come up-close and be a part of it, I believe even more in the group and what they’re doing. They enjoy playing together. They have success. They have fun together, and they’re very, very competitive.”

Then again ...

“The Bruins are also a very competitive bunch, and their core has been together for a while, and they’ve won together, too,” Iginla said. “It should be a very fun series.”

The longtime Flames captain is tied for fourth on the NHL’s playoff charts with a dozen points — four goals and eight assists — in 11 skates this spring, but he’s been able to operate primarily in the shadows of the Penguins’ other stars.

That won’t be the case in the third round.

The Penguins have home-ice advantage against the Bruins, starting with Saturday’s Game 1 at Consol Energy Center (6 p.m. MT, CBC), but Iginla is already bracing for a frosty reception when the series shifts to Boston.

That goes for the fans in TD Bank Garden.

That goes for Zdeno Chara, his close pal Andrew Ference and the Bruins’ blueline brigade, too.

“I don’t expect a warm welcome, by any means,” Iginla said. “A lot of people probably would have guessed that this was a real possibility — and I did, too — that we could be playing in this matchup. It’s just funny the way sports works. That’s kind of the fun of it, right? One more storyline, I guess.

“I don’t think we would have got a warm welcome as a group anyway. But I don’t expect one personally — that’s for sure.”